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Don't call her the old she-coon
© St. Petersburg Times, Talk about scary: When it comes to women in Florida politics, Katherine Harris is the best we can do. As secretary of state, she is the most highly placed woman in state government. A woman who needs false eyelashes and secret advisers does not radiate self-confidence. Janet Reno, former U.S. attorney general and now Democratic gubernatorial candidate, radiates a confidence Harris can only dream about. The best kind. The quiet kind. She is the un-Harris. No makeup. No wardrobe consultant. No Oliver Peeples eyeglasses. Reno is being compared to another Democrat spoken of reverentially by party true believers, Lawton Chiles. Any day now, the pundits will have Reno with holes in her shoes and a coonskin hat on her head to go with her plain shirtwaist dresses. But that comparison is off by a country mile. Wouldn't you love to listen in on a conversation between Reno and Barbara Bush? Keep her son, the governor, out of it, and they'd probably agree on a great deal. Except for the pearls. Janet Reno wouldn't be caught dead in Barbara Bush's pearls. They'd be too much trouble. Reno and the former first lady are straightforward. They do not feign. The word facelift is not on their shopping lists. They are satisfied with who they are. It's sad that I have to go all the way to Kennebunkport to find a woman in Janet Reno's league. We are short on well-placed women in Florida politics, women comfortable with their muscle and moxie. Others who are stand on the sidelines. The Republicans' Toni Jennings isn't running for governor. Neither is the Democrats' Betty Castor. Lois Frankel is one of the Democrats in the race, but she's worn herself hoarse spouting liberalisms in the Legislature. The pundits who have mistakenly compared Janet Reno to Lawton Chiles already know how the contest ends. They are sure that if Reno wins the crowded Democratic primary, she can't do well beyond South Florida. The pundits are sure. They also believe that a race between Jeb Bush and Reno will be a rehash of every Republican argument about the misdeeds of the Clinton administration. So let it. The rest of us long ago tuned out -- although if memory serves the attorney general handled the ever-changing crisis of the week with savvy. Even Bill Clinton couldn't unload her. She was his third choice for attorney general but ended up in the job longer than anyone else in history. And she took responsibility for disasters, like the 80 deaths at Waco. This is what endears Reno to strangers. It isn't the famous name. Or the face that belongs on somebody you pass in the grocery aisle. This is a woman who when she wants to unburden herself calls her sister. This is a woman who still remembers the awkward moments of girlhood. Reno tells a story about learning how to dance. She was 12 and already nearly 6 feet tall and there wasn't a thing to be done about it -- except dance, just as she was. Every woman in public life has to invent her own dance. She has to learn how to wield power without apology, in a way that fits not just convention but who she is. This is Reno's secret. She's one of those women. - Mary Jo Melone can be reached at mjmelone@sptimes.com or at (813)-226-3402.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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Times columns today Mary Jo Melone John Romano From the Times Metro desk Mary Jo Melone |
